Remembering your own sins no more—by being MORE

Remembering your own sins no more—by being MORE

A dictation by Master MORE

NOTE: This dictation was given during the Shangra-la Summer Conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, June 28, 2008.

So my beloved, why does an ascended master who for a century has been known by the name El Morya get the crazy idea to change his name to Master MORE? Well my beloved, who AM I as an ascended master? AM I not indeed a spiritual teacher, seeking to raise up those who are yet unascended to overcome the limitations that keep them from the ascended consciousness, from the Christ consciousness—that is the only key to enter into the Kingdom of the Infinite? And thus, in teaching this, I Am well aware of the pitfalls of the path, the trickery of the human ego. Of how it is constantly seeking to trick the best students into falling into the rut of taking a teaching given and turning it into a closed mental box that now keeps them trapped, my beloved, rather than raising them higher.

Thus, if you take an honest look at virtually every religion on this planet – and even at the organizations that we, the Ascended Host, have sponsored over this past century – you will see the same pattern, my beloved. After a time, the students start forming a mental image of what it means to be a student of the ascended masters, of what it means to be a Chela of El Morya or Serapis Bey or Saint Germain or Jesus or another Master.

And thus my beloved, as that mental image becomes more and more pronounced, and as it starts spreading through the mass consciousness of the organization, then it begins to gain a strength that eventually overpowers those who are not strong enough to see through it. And thus my beloved, you should realize that any movement, any group of people that starts meeting on a regular basis, will form a mass consciousness, a group consciousness. And it will eventually – if the members are not aware, if they are not alert – it will begin to form a force that will seek to overpower the individual and get the individual to follow the mass consciousness—rather than following the teaching released through the organization from our level and following the inner direction that you get within your own heart.

Beware of the ego’s trap
And thus my beloved, what you have seen in previous organizations is truly the formation of a certain image of what it means to be a Chela of El Morya. And I must tell you honestly that only a very small percentage of the members of any previous organization have managed to avoid this trap. Whereas the majority of them have fallen right into it, allowing their egos to make them feel special because in their organization, they have the right definition of what it means to be a Chela of El Morya. And therefore, of course, they are better chelas than anyone else.And so they now focus all of their attention on being the best possible chela that they can be – and my beloved, please note that I am not condemning anyone for this – I am simply exposing the reality of what is happening in the duality consciousness of the ego. I am in no way passing any judgment upon this. This is what happens, and I know this full well.

Yet I am trying to point it out to those who have ears to hear, that they may see the trap before it springs and catches them. For you see my beloved, it is often so that the most eager students – the ones who are actually in some ways ready to step up to a higher service – are the ones who have the greatest desire, the greatest drive to be a good Chela of El Morya. Yet if they are not alert, and if they are not balanced, my beloved, then their desire to do well becomes a trap.

My beloved, do you fully understand that you live in the material universe that is still dominated by the duality consciousness? Which means that the ego, the prince of this world, the false teachers can use anything – and I mean anything – to create a trap?

Yet the flip side of the coin, my beloved, is that it is also possible to take any teaching – no matter how distorted, no matter how false – and still transcend the teaching and attain Christhood. As you indeed see a few people who have taken the distorted teachings of orthodox Christianity and still managed to rise above it, to go within.

Overcome your graven image of El Morya and know MORE
Thus what I am endeavoring to have you understand is that we of the Ascended Hosts cannot bring forth a teaching expressed in words that the ego and the false teachers cannot pervert and use to create a trap. Yet on the other hand, the false teachers of humankind cannot create a false teaching that is so distorted, so far from the truth, that people cannot transcend that teaching and still manifest Christhood. Do you see my beloved, there cannot be any guarantees in the material realm? Partly because of the duality consciousness, partly because of free will.And so my beloved what I am pointing out to you is that if you will take a honest look at yourself and see that you have – whether it be from a previous organization or whether it be for other reasons – but that you have built an image of who El Morya is and what it means to be a Chela of El Morya. Well then, I must tell you that you are no longer my chela—you are a chela of a graven image!

For you see my beloved, I am MORE than any image you could possibly create of me. And, thus you see that the entire drive to create a graven image, whether it be of God or an ascended being, can only come from the ego and its desire, its compulsive need, for control, my beloved.

And thus, the ego is constantly seeking to create the ultimate mental box and put God in it, put me in it, put Jesus in it. But the first person who is put in the mental box created by your ego is yourself. And the last person to leave that mental box is yourself. For you see my beloved, the beauty of Jesus’ teaching to do unto others, is that what you do unto others, you have already done to yourself. For after all, who is yourself? Is it not the All?

And so my beloved, I came to a point where I recognized that despite my efforts in previous organizations – to give forth teachings that could not be turned into a closed mental box – well, I had not attained the goal that I desired to attain. And that is why I decided to take the step to change the name to Master MORE. To more directly signal that I am MORE, forever MORE.

And thus my beloved, you may look on the Internet and elsewhere, and see that there are organizations who claim to be sponsored by the ascended masters and they have brought forth new images of El Morya that are different from the ones of previous organizations. And they might claim that these new images reflect my Being as I am today as compared to the old. Yet I tell you truly my beloved, I, Master MORE, I, El Morya, have not sponsored any image of me for a long time now.

For I desire to have no image, for the reality is, my beloved, that I AM one with the MORE of the River of Life, the process of constant, never-ending, ever-expanding, self transcendence. And thus my beloved, if I were to commission an artist to paint a picture of me, well then before the paint was dry, I would have transcended myself a million times. And thus, how could the picture possibly reflect who I AM. And thus, how could any picture be more than a graven image? Which is why, in a previous conference, Saint Germain kept jumping off the wall, my beloved. * [Laughter]

And I have felt like doing the same thing many times, when I see those who could potentially be my best chelas hold on to a graven image; whether it be a physical picture or mental picture in their own minds. And I want to say to them, “Come with me on this grand adventure of being MORE—instead of sitting there feeling content with the less that you were given at a previous time.”

The real cause of the murder of the Divine Mother
And so my beloved, what am I leading up to with this? It is to give you an understanding, my beloved. An understanding based on your own experience in this lifetime and in today’s age of what was the real cause of the murder of the Divine Mother on Lemuria. For it was this very process, my beloved, of the tendency of the ego and the false teachers to create graven images of God.And what is the purpose of the Divine Mother, when there was a representative of the Divine Mother in embodiment? Well, it is the same purpose as Lord Krishna, as the Buddha, as Jesus, as every true spiritual representative or teacher. It is to shatter and challenge the mental boxes, the graven images, that people have created, for this is the essence of the path.

And thus my beloved, those who murdered the Divine Mother entered into the consciousness of wanting to walk the mechanical path, wanting to worship a graven image—which then gave them control, not only over the image, but over the path, and gave them the illusion of control over their material circumstances. And thus my beloved they were not willing to transcend the graven image and come up higher. And so, when someone challenged their graven image, they would do almost anything to silence that challenge. And in some cases going to the extreme of killing that person, either by slitting their throat in a temple or by nailing them to a cross, my beloved.

So you see, what I am trying to point out to you here is that there may be some of you who have a sense that you were on Lemuria, and you were there when the murder of the representative of the Divine Mother took place. Yet my beloved, what I am trying to give you is a different perspective, where you realize that all human beings on Earth have been and are stuck in the consciousness that caused the murder of the Divine Mother.

Do you see, my beloved? The unwillingness to transcend is the very consciousness that caused the murder of the Divine Mother on Lemuria, elsewhere, and the murder of the representatives of God throughout the ages. For this has not only happened with Jesus and the Divine Mother on Lemuria, it has happened countless times, my beloved, and is still happening today. Even in the form of psychic murder, where you silence those who could have spoken out and brought society forward.

So you see, what I am calling you to realize is that what needs to be overcome is that consciousness, the unwillingness to transcend, to self-transcend. And I am also calling you to realize here that I am not saying this to give you any sense of guilt. I am, in fact, saying it to perhaps push your buttons a little bit, so that you can see if you feel guilty over this. For then there is something you need to look at, my beloved.

For have we not explained so beautifully how the Divine Mother feels about the murder of her representative? That there is no judgment, there is no anger, there is no negative feelings—there is only unconditional love. And in unconditional love there is not even the need for forgiveness, my beloved.

How hatred of the Mother begins
Do you see that whatever you have done in this or past lives, it is of no consequence, my beloved, in the grand scheme of things? For everything is created out of Ma-ter light, which is like the sand in the sand boxes you all used to play in as children. Whatever you do with the sand, whatever kind of castle you build, you cannot hurt the sand, my beloved. But neither can you create anything permanent, for when you leave it and the sun comes out and dries the sand in your castle, then it begins to crumble.Do you see, my beloved? God is not the angry, judgmental God who has put you into a world where the slightest mistake you make will qualify you for hell for all eternity. God is the loving God who has put you into a sand box and said, “Build anything you want, for you cannot hurt the sand. You can only hurt yourself.”

But you truly hurt yourself only in your own perception, my beloved. Thus, do you see, whatever mistake you have made has no consequence in the grand scheme of things? But it has a consequence in your own world, in that it can make you feel guilty, unworthy, fearful, even angry. And so the subtle, psychological mechanism, my beloved, is that when you allow yourself to feel condemnation, self-condemnation, for the fact that you have made a mistake—well then you enter into a state of pain that can easily become so intense that you refuse to look at the decisions, the consciousness, that caused you to commit the outer actions, my beloved. And if you refuse to look at the consciousness, well how can you resolve it and move on. And this then is what becomes the Catch 22 – for some people even a Catch 33 or a Catch 99 – for they have built so many layers of this guilt, anger and fear.

And so you see, my beloved, this is the essence of what caused the murder of the Divine Mother. For the unwillingness to transcend comes from the unwillingness to look at something from the past – and learn from it – because it is too painful. And thus, the ego will always trick you into lessening the sense of guilt so that you can live with it. And how does the ego do this? It does so by causing you to project outside yourself that it was not really your fault. It was something else that made you do it.

And in many cases, my beloved, what happens is:

You descend into embodiment in the material realm, where everything is created out of the Ma-ter light.

You make a mistake, which we do not see as a mistake, but you see it as a mistake.

It causes pain.

You will not look at the pain. So you project that it was not your fault. It was some condition in the material realm that made you do it.

And now what have you done? You have projected onto the Mother that it is the Mother’s fault. And how can this not lead to hatred of the Mother, which then – when you are challenged to realize that no, it was not the Mother who made you do it, it was you who made the choice to do it – well then you want to silence that voice. For you are not willing to look at the pain, to go into the pain and realize that although running away can diminish the intensity of the pain, you will still never be able to run away from it. Instead, you will have the lesser intensity of the pain as the constant companion. But if, instead, you would turn around – walk right into the pain – then you would for a short time feel the intensity of the pain, my beloved, but you would walk through it and realize that you are more than the pain. And that there is peace, release, surrender, freedom on the other side.

The cause of self-hatred
But as long as you run away, you cannot do that. So what must you do? You must justify running away by again projecting layers of images and illusions onto the Mother. Which then causes you to feel more and more resentful, coming to the point of having hatred of the Mother, my beloved. Which is truly a hatred of self; but who are you? You are an expression of the Father, but you are in the Mother of God. For all in the world of form is the Mother. And so, you are also the Mother. So when you hate the Mother, you are hating yourself. But you see my beloved, what is it you are hating? You are hating something that is an illusion. And what is the grand illusion? Well, it is the illusion caused by the fact that the lowering of the collective consciousness on a planet like Earth has given matter a certain density, where it seems like your actions have physical consequences that you cannot escape and that will follow you for a long time. And thus it seems like the Mother really is punishing you for your mistakes by some physical consequence.

Yet my beloved, the reality is that the Mother is not punishing you. The Mother is at any moment reflecting back to you the images that you hold in your consciousness. And thus, what you are hating are these images that are not the Mother—that are not you. They are created out of the duality consciousness which is unreal. So what you hate is unreal.

And the only way out of it is to look at it from a realistic perspective and recognize that it is not real. Admit that it is not real. Admit that you chose to believe in an illusion. But that neither God the Father nor God the Mother will hold you to that choice and will say that once you have made that choice you should be bound by it forever. It is only the devil who will seek to make you believe in this lie.

The Father and the Mother have given you the free will to change your mind at any time, to undo an imperfect decision by making a right choice—a LIFE decision to replace the death decision. My beloved, what I endeavor to give you here is a greater understanding of how you hold yourself back.

The difference between memory and Akasha
Now my beloved, I will speak to you of the difference between memory, human memory, and what you have come to know as the akashic records. For you see my beloved, in previous teachings we have given the image that there is something called the akashic records, which is truly a certain energy frequency that records everything that has ever happened in the material universe. So that you can, so to speak, rewind the tape in the VCR and replay an event that happened 10,000 years ago or 50,000 years ago.And there is something called the akashic records. But you see, when you hear of the concept of the akashic records, you project the state of your own consciousness upon it. And so you think that what is recorded in the akashic records is what you saw in that situation when it happened 10 or 10,000 years ago.

So you think that if I was to take you to my retreat and show you a big screen on the wall – for I can tell you that I have ultimate flat screen TV [Laughter] – then you think that what you would see on that screen is the same that you saw when you were in that situation many years ago. But it is not so, my beloved.

For you see, what is recorded in the akashic records is what happened the way God saw it. And God looks at this, the Ascended Host look at this, the Divine Mother looks at this with no human emotions, as we have stated—none of the human emotions that you have, that might cause you to look at things with a negative overlay, my beloved.

Think about the fact that you all know; that you might have a traffic accident and you call in 5 witnesses and ask them to describe what they saw, and they saw 5 different versions of what happened. Well my beloved, imagine that you were in a situation many thousands of years ago when the murder of the Divine Mother on Lemuria happened. Imagine how all of the people who participated in that event—how they each have an individual vision of the event.

But none of them saw the event the way the Ascended Hosts see it. For each person saw it through the filter of their own consciousness, my beloved. And because of that filter, each person built a personal image that includes a mental picture but also a set of intense emotions about the event. And the emotions give to each person a personal pain. And the pain is so intense that the mechanism I just described kicks in, so that they will not look at the pain and thus must project the cause of the event outside themselves. And this very running away from looking at the event is what prevents you from rising above and being free of the event. My beloved, do you see this?
Audience: “YES!”

This is the very key to overcoming the ego. If you truly see and experience what I am describing here, my beloved, the key is to determine within yourself – to look at what takes away your peace – and realize that what takes away your peace may be the pain; but behind the pain is an event from the past where you did something that caused you to accept a completely unrealistic self-image. A self-image based on the lies and illusions of duality.

Be willing to see what really happened
And if you will then determine that you are willing to walk through the pain, then you can come to the point where you can say, “I am willing to look at the event,” but I ask you beloved Christ Self, beloved Jesus, beloved Mother Mary, beloved Master MORE – whichever Master is close to your heart – ask that Master to show you an inner vision of the event directly out of the akashic records, my beloved. So that you are not bound to look at the event only through the filter of the duality consciousness, which then will forever prevent you from seeing the illusion, seeing that you are more than the illusion and thus letting the illusion go. So ask to be given that vision. What really happened? Not what your ego tells you happened. For I tell you that the ego and the false teachers will make you believe in a false image that makes you think that it is God the Father or God the Mother who is condemning you. And thus, you cannot lock into the unconditional love that is the key to consuming the event.

And thus, what I wish to give you here is the understanding that when you created that mental image of the event, you created – in the separate part of your mind – an image that is removed from the reality of what is recorded in the akashic records. A graven image, and that image is stored in your personal memory—the memory of the separate self, the mortal self you have built.

So you have, so to speak, a personal version of the akashic records. Only, what is recorded there is not what really happened, but what you think happened, seeing through the filter of the ego. And do you see my beloved, that as long as you do not challenge that mental image, that graven image, you will be bound by it because you will be condemning yourself to staying in the mental box formed by the image.

And you can never escape it; you can only keep running away from it. And in so doing, perhaps building layer upon layer that makes it harder and harder to either face the pain or to get to the bottom of what really happened because your attention is taken off on all these tangents. And thus, you can never come to that center, that point of stillness my beloved, where you can ask, “God, show me what really happened. I am willing to know?”

And I tell you when you see what really happened – and I say this regardless of what mistake you could have possibly have made – when you see what really happened, you will see that it is no more important than a child building a sand castle and deciding it didn’t look the way he wanted it, so he erases it and starts building a new one.

Give yourself the benefit of the doubt
Do you see what we said about the Ma-ter light? It will out-picture any image you project upon it, for it has no judgment. So at any moment, the Ma-ter light sets you free to let go of the old image and project a better one. You do not need to feel guilty about having projected an imperfect image, for God gave you free will. And God wants you to learn. And if you learn, was it really a mistake? What was the big deal, as they say? Sometimes my beloved, you just have to give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Instead of feeling so absolutely convinced that you are a bad person. Be willing to question that image – projected into your mind – and say, “Maybe, I am just a child of God who built a sand castle that I really don’t like anymore. And so I don’t need to be bound by it; I can erase it and build another one. And my Divine Mother and my Divine Father will rejoice when I build a better castle. They will not make me feel guilty or unworthy or afraid or anything.”

Can you see, can you sense, can you feel my desire to see you be free of these old patterns? Can you sense that I am a representative of God, both as Father and Mother, my beloved? For as an ascended being, I have the perfect balance of masculine and feminine. For if I did not, how could I have ascended?

The reality of twin flames
And thus, my beloved, again I challenge you to rethink your images of ascended masters. It was not a coincidence that we asked this messenger to say yesterday not to say “Portia” after the “Hail St. Germain” that you used to bless your food. For you see, my beloved, in previous teachings we have given you the images that ascended masters have twin flames. But that is a linear image, and I am challenging you to come beyond, to come up higher, to go beyond the linear image.Why have I never exposed the identity of my twin flame as El Morya? Because, again, I am committed to demonstrating the path of MORE, my beloved. Who is my twin flame? Well, sometimes it is Mother Mary, sometimes it is Saint Germain, and you might think that a contradiction. But you see, my beloved, I am a complete being.

In the new book, The Art of Non-war is a very concise and clear explanation that when you leave oneness, the only way to leave oneness is to create a duality. And thus, when a lifestream steps out of the consciousness of oneness, it must be split into two; and thus the concept of the twin flame. Yet the fallacy that has been – if not taught then at least understood in the mass consciousness of previous organizations – is that you need your twin flame, you need to come back into union with your twin flame, in order to ascend.

But you see my beloved, in order to ascend, you need to become a self-contained, self-sufficient being; you are whole because you have the balance of masculine and feminine right within your own being. So you see my beloved, as you grow even as an ascended being, well then you come to a point of desiring to bring forth some manifestation on Earth. And you see that you could bring forth a better manifestation by working with another ascended master.

And so when I work with another ascended master it is not like when you work with another person on earth—I become one with that master. We form a polarity. Each of us complete, but nevertheless, our union, our polarity, makes it MORE. And thus, we in a sense become the twin flames of each other when we work together in perfect harmony. And so, we cannot, therefore, keep having you believe in the image that we in the ascended realm have fixed twin flames, my beloved. For we are ever self-transcending. And in the ascended realm, nothing is fixed. Nothing is set in stone. Nothing is set in matter.

[Added 7.12.08 by Mater MORE’s instruction:]

And so, to complete the concept, you too can become my twin flame – albeit in a different type of relationship than that between ascended masters – if you are willing to strive for uncompromising oneness with me. Whereby we become one as Above, so below, thus forming a horizontal twin flame relationship that spans the octaves. And, of course, you can become the twin flame on any ascended being who is close to your heart and who is out of the same greater Being out of which you have emerged.

See beyond the illusion that matter is unchanging
It is only in the material realm that you have the illusion that matter is unchanging, that you can create something unchanging and therefore be bound by it. It is only in the material realm that you can have the illusion that matter has power over you—the spiritual being. And the only reason you have that illusion is that you have created a mortal sense of identity, and thus you think matter has power over your mortal identity—which it truly has not.It does not even have power over your physical body, except if you give it that power through the mind. Because your body is an out-picturing of a certain state of consciousness, and the matter that vibrates within the same spectrum as that state of consciousness, can have power over your physical body. But only because you are allowing your physical body to be limited through that spectrum of frequencies and thus out-picturing the consciousness. And thus, when you are in the sphere of that consciousness, you are affected by it—for like attracts like.

And thus my beloved, being Master MORE I naturally have more to say about this, but I recognize that your cups are full and that I have given you just a little bit more than you can handle—so as to challenge you to always come up higher and follow me in this grand adventure, this beautiful unfoldment of the creative power of God.

For truly my beloved, creativity is the essence of Christhood. And this is again, where even the previous organizations we have sponsored have created this mass consciousness of thinking that the path taught by the ascended masters can be approached in a mechanical way, can be reduced to a mechanical, mathematical equation. That if only you give “X” amount of Violet Flame, you will balance “X” amount of karma, and one day – “poof”– you will ascend.

Well, that is not the way it happens, my beloved. It happens only through a creative process and the choices you make. For the essence of creativity is to make choices. For creativity itself is unlimited. It has an infinite potential. But what will it take for you to become the open door for the creative force of God to flow through you? It will take that you make a choice as to how to direct that creative force. A choice about the form you want the force to flow into, my beloved. And this is the essence of free will. And what many of you have done – not many of you here, but many of you in the broader sense – is that you have become afraid to exercise your free will because of the so-called bad choices you have made in the past.

But I trust, my beloved, you will now gain a different perspective by studying – over and over again if necessary – this release from myself and other releases from other Masters until you truly lock into the idea that there is nothing that can bind your Spirit for your Spirit is real and everything in matter is ultimately unreal.

And my beloved, as Jesus explains in the new course, that which is unreal has no power over that which is real.

You are real. STOP letting unreality limit and define you!

BE the unlimited creative being you are and flow with the River of Life. And come up with me to the grandeur and the freedom of being MORE.

[Applause]

* This refers to a previous Shangra-la conference during which a picture of Saint Germain fell off the wall several times. In a dictation, Saint Germain explained that this was because he too wanted the students to rise beyond previous images of him.

The Awakening:

A time comes in your life when you finally get it when in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out ENOUGH! fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new eyes.
This is your Awakening
You realize it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that he is not Prince Charming and you are not Cinderella and in the real world there aren't always Fairy Tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.
You awaken to the fact you are not perfect and not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are and that's OK. (They are entitled to their own views and opinions.) And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self approval.
You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and not everyone will always be there for you and that it's not always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.
You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are, and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties, and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness. You realize that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around you, is as a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche. And you begin to sift through all the things you've been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, and how much you should weigh, what you should wear, and where you should shop, and what you should drive, how and where you should live, and what you should do for a living, who you should sleep with, who you should marry, and what you should expect of a marriage, the importance of having and raising children or what you owe your parents.
You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are what you really stand for. You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with, and in the process you learn to go with your instincts.
You learn it is truly in giving that we receive. And there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix. You learn principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a by-gone era but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn you don't know everything, its not your job to save the world and you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO. You learn the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
Then you learn about love. Romantic love and familial love. How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away. You learn not to project your needs or your feelings onto a relationship. You learn you will not be more beautiful, more intelligent, more lovable or important because of the man or woman on your arm or the child that bears your name.
You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn just as people grow and change so it is with love and you learn you don't have the right to demand love on your terms just to make you happy.
You learn that alone does not mean lonely And you look in the mirror and come to terms with the fact you will never be a size 5 or a perfect 10 and you stop trying to compete with the image inside your head and agonizing over how you "stack up."
You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn feelings of entitlement are perfectly OK .and that it is your right to want things and to ask for the things that you want and that sometimes it is necessary to make demands.
You come to the realization you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won't settle for less. And, you allow only the hands of a lover who cherishes you to glorify you with her or his touch and in the process you internalize the meaning of self-respect.
And you learn your body really is your temple. And you begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin eating a balanced diet, drinking more water and taking more time to exercise. You learn fatigue diminishes the spirit and can create doubt and fear. So you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.
You learn, that for the most part, in life you get what you believe you deserve and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You learn anything worth achieving is worth working for and wishing for something to happen is different from working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn no one can do it all alone and that it's OK to risk asking for help.
You learn the only thing you must truly fear is the great robber baron of all time FEAR itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your terms. And you learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve and sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions you learn not to personalize things. You learn no one is punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It's just life happening.
And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state the ego.
You learn negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to building bridges instead of walls.
You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.
Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you to make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never ever settle for less than your heart's desire. And you hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. And you make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility. Finally, with courage in your heart and with faith by your side you take a stand, you take a deep breath and you begin to design the life you want to live as best as you can.
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May God protect You…

May God protect you
From scary nights,
from hasty flights;
From too much food,
from a somber mood;
From ringing bells,
from self-made hells;
From sickish pains,
from dishonest gains;
From excessive needs,
from tricky deeds;
From foolish quarrels,
from resting on laurels;
From silly fears,
from idle tears;
From forgotten lines,
And from all bad times.
We pray,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
from The Irish, p.55
by Fr. Andrew Greeley

Dawn of New Beginnings

O God,
We thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.
We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.
Grant us a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.
For each new dawn is filled with infinite possibilities for new beginnings and new discoveries. Life is constantly changing and renewing itself. In this new day of new beginnings with God, all things are possible. We are restored and renewed in a joyous awakening to the wonder that our lives are and, yet, can be.
Amen.

Earth Day Prayer

O GOD,
we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.
We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.
GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

Keeping It In Focus

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote many years ago:
"There is no place where God is not. God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding rocky barriers, filling the buttercups with their perfume and refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth. Descend…into the lowest depths of the ocean, where undisturbed water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is there."
His beauty is stamped in all of creation:
The glory of God can be seen
from the smallest raindrop
to the mighty flash of lightning;
from the tiny rosebud
to the huge magnolia blossom;
from the rich, fertile soil of the Mississippi Delta
to the arid, dusty land of the desert.
We can see His stamp of glory in all the world,
from the music of a sparkling brook
to the majestic tumbling waterfall;
from the gnarled, gentle hands of a loving grandfather
to the birth-fresh fragility of a baby’s fingernail;
from the silence of the stars to the peal of thunder;
from the mirror-like smoothness of a placid lake
to the wind-driven thunderous waves smashing on the shore.
In the fresh greenery of the spring; in the dazzling color of autumn; in the joy of discovery on a baby’s face; and in the fulfillment and meaning of the New Birth, we can see the glory of God.